Book places: Abraham Lincoln Book Shop

Robert DufferSpecial to the Tribune

Amidst the busts and icons in the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, there is a Norman Rockwell print of a hunky Lincoln holding an ax in one hand and a book in the other. This romanticized Bunyanesque version of Illinois' iconic politician is a fitting image for a store that specializes in the Civil War, U.S. presidents and Lincolniana. “Everyone does Lincoln,” says employee and Lincolnianiac Bjorn Skaptason. There's a Salvador Dali print next to a Rockwell, Lincoln cigars and never-minted Lincoln pennies, as well as a bed from the Lincoln family home in Springfield. The space, with track lighting and symmetrical shelves extending to the 12-foot ceilings, feels as much like a museum and library as a store. Skaptason points out that the shop is “pretty disciplined about the collection, unless it's really cool.” There's a corral of rifles and swords, charcoal drawings, broadsides and newspaper clippings, a training manual for Union soldiers and letters such as one from Stonewall Jackson in the field. Though established in 1938 and specializing in the 19th century, the shop and its unique offerings keep the Lincoln era alluring.